BEING FRANK - my Picture book with Flashlight Press

My first picture book, BEING FRANK, hit the shelves in October! Here are a few of the reviews (and you can see many more here http://flashlightpress.com/Being_Frank.html):

From Booklist
Meet Frank. He is frank. And being
frank, Frank likes to frankly tell everyone exactly what he thinks. “Your freckles remind me of the Big

Dipper.” “Your singing is kind of shrieky.” When that gets him
sent home from school, he displays the
same frankness to his mother: “You
wouldn’t get so many wrinkles if you didn’t glare at me like that.”
Pretty soon Frank is lonely enough to alphabetize his bug
collection. Enter
Grandpa Ernest, who
has mastered the ability to be earnest—it’s sort of like being frank, but
nicer. When encountered with a ridiculous
hat
topped with flowers, Grandpa compliments the flower in
the middle. “I talked about the good
things on her hat instead of the not-so-good
things,” he explains. This
is a lesson-to-be-learned book if ever
there was one, but Earnhardt is so, well, frank about it that kids will
laugh right along with Frank’s every
miscue. Meanwhile,
Castellani’s bright, glossy, retro-styled Photoshop illustrations pop with
frantic energy.
For kids who need to know that honesty isn’t always the best policy.— Daniel
Kraus

From
Kirkus
Reviews
Frank
believes that honesty is the best policy, but is that always the case?
Elementary schooler Frank never lies to his schoolmates. He tells
Dotty
her freckles look like the Big Dipper, and he tells Carol her singing is “kind
of shrieky.” Neither of them is pleased. Frank is also truthful
with
adults. He tells his teacher her breath smells; when sent to the principal,
Frank tells him his toupee looks like a weasel. Even his mother
doesn’t
seem to appreciate his candor. No one in Frank’s life (including Frank) is
happy, so he seeks help from his grandpa. Grandpa Ernest
tells Mrs.
Peacock he likes the purple flower in her hat best when she asks if he likes her
gaudy chapeau. Frank thinks Grandpa has lied, but
no: Grandpa only
focused on the good things. Frank applies Grandpa’s advice to good effect and
serves up the honesty with “more sugar… /
and less pepper.”
Earnhardt’s debut is
a humorous object lesson in honesty, though the central punniness will
be lost on the audience
without some explanation. Italian illustrator
Castellani’s blocky
and bright Saturday-morning-cartoon–style illustrations amp the
wackiness and make this frankly fun. On-the-mark help for the parents of
inadvertently tactless tots.

From Children’s
Literature
Frank’s policy in life is “Honesty is
the best policy,” but when his unvarnished honesty gets him in hot water with
his friends, his teachers, and
finally, his mom, Frank begins to
realize that others do not embrace his truthfulness in the way he might expect.
A visit to his Grandpa Ernest’s
and watching his very savvy grandfather
respond to an out-of-this-world hat as well as a friend looking for advice on
his relish helps Frank to
understand that sometimes, we can be honest
without being hurtful. Taking this new knowledge to heart, Frank is able to find
a positive
attribute in all of his friends and teachers and comment on
those; he even manages to make his mom feel better by writing her a poem
commenting on her “not so grey” hair. The illustrations are vivid and fit
the dynamic of the book very well. This is a great book for
younger
readers as they
learn more about how to interact with others in their lives with language use
that supports good intentions.

From Publishers
Weekly
Whether children understand the
titular pun on the word “frank,” they’ll understand the difference between the
kind of frankness Frank starts
out with (“Your singing is kind of
shrieky,” he tells a classmate) and the kind he ends up with (“You sure can hit
those high notes,” he says to
the same classmate after a heart-to-heart
with his tactful Grandpa Ernest). Newcomer Earnhardt makes her point
with solid pacing and
lots of laughs: “She knew how fast she was going,”
Frank tells a police officer who’s pulled over his mother. “I told her.” Grandpa
Ernest’s
demonstration of diplomacy is low-key. “Well,” he says when a
neighbor asks him about her gaudy hat, “there are an awful lot of flowers up
there. But my favorite is the purple one in the middle.” Italian illustrator Castellani’s
digital artwork is crisp, colorful, and energetic….
While Frank might not
persuade sharp-tongued children to mend their ways, the story provides a useful
array of good ways to deliver bad
news. Ages 5–7. (Oct.)

From
School Library
Journal
Frank
says what he thinks. No one, from a “shrieky” classmate to his toupee-wearing
principal, really appreciates his opinions. Even his
mother, who speeds
and has wrinkles, isn’t safe from her son’s unvarnished comments. With everyone
angry with him, the boy begins to
question whether honesty is indeed
the best policy. He gets some sage advice from Grandpa and learns to tell the
truth without hurting people’
s feelings. The quirky cartoon-style
illustrations boost the entertainment value of this picture book, whose message
is delivered
with humor. Great for reading aloud and for discussions on
being diplomatic.